Tag Archives: sidewalks

Community celebrates completion of 33rd Avenue pedestrian improvements

A parade of happy residents make their way along a new sidewalk on 33rd Avenue NE.

A parade of happy residents make their way along a new sidewalk on 33rd Avenue NE. (Photo courtesy Janine Blaeloch)

Neighborhood residents came out to celebrate on Saturday after improvements on 33rd Avenue NE were finished recently. The project was completed in 2012 but the celebration was planned for spring, when the newly-planted vegetation would bloom.

A ribbon cutting and parade of residents celebrated the improvements on the road behind Value Village and one block off Lake City Way. The road, like many in Lake City, was inhospitable to pedestrians before the improvements. This despite a concentration of people living in the immediate vicinity, including many children, elderly and disabled people in wheelchairs.

The project was paid for with Bridging the Gap funds after a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant helped pay for design of the project.

33rd_06The project was taken up by community leaders who advocated for funding and guided the effort after recognizing a need in the area. The improvements include new sidewalks, drainage, curbs, lighting and landscaping.

A community fair with tasty desserts and sandwiches provided by the Lake City Bakery followed the ribbon cutting and parade.

The City of Seattle’s Department of Transportation said the changes “improve the pedestrian environment by providing a landscaped buffer from traffic; improve drainage and lighting as well as traffic calming the street.” A future project might include a mid-block crosswalk and Greenways elements to further calm traffic.

Photos below show the newly improved area (left) and how it looked before the improvements (right).

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Overgrown vegetation and a lack of sidewalks used to push pedestrians into the middle of a busy street.

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The area immediately behind Value Village and Aurora Rents shows the lack of drainage in the area, now improved.

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Before, right, pedestrians would not walk in the muddy mess on the shoulders and were forced into the street.

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The area now is much more pedestrian friendly and is likely to encourage more walking and pedestrian activity.

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Sidewalk Funding for 127th

A frame from the slideshow presentation
Representatives from Douglas Park Cooperative were at the North District Council meeting last week Wednesday to make a presentation of our request for sidewalks on NE 127th street between 25th and 27th. All NDC member organizations voted and our project was one of the three selected. If everything goes well, SDOT will start designs in November of this year.

More information about the Bridging the Gap Neighborhood Street Fund can be found here.  Below is a timeline from their site:



NSF Project Selection Timeline:
2013
January – Each of Seattle’s 13 neighborhood District Councils will select three projects for further evaluation (up to 39 projects in all).
February - May – SDOT conducts a high level scope & cost estimate of the projects selected by the neighborhood District Councils.
June – Each neighborhood District Council prioritizes its own list of projects.
July – Bridging the Gap Oversight Committee evaluates all proposed projects for funding.
August – Oversight committee makes funding recommendations to the Mayor & City Council.
September – 2014 Budget adopted.
October/November – SDOT begins planning and design work.

This sidewalk is in addition to the sidewalk going in on 130th between 25th and 28th. That sidewalk is being funded by the State of Washington's Safe Routes to School Program, and is currently in design. It will be constructed this year.

Sidewalk Funding

The Neighborhood Street Fund applications for 2013 are in and were just made public today. Douglas Park Cooperative has an application in requesting a segment of sidewalk from 25th to 26th on 127th. There are 5 other applications in for the North District for a total of six.

North District Council will meet next Wednesday, January 9th from 7pm to 9pm at the Lake City Library meeting room. The six applicants will present to the North District Council members and a vote will be had to determine which three will be recommended for funding. Douglas Park is a NDC member and will be voting as well as presenting.








Below is a map from a few years ago showing all the block faces in Seattle that are lacking sidewalks. That red bowl of spaghetti on top is us. 85th is that clearly defined line, which coincidentally is the same line dividing the older Seattle from the 1950's land grab and empty promises.